Halloween Party -30yr- Flying Skeletons

This year we had a huge 100+ people halloween party. All guests had to come in costume....and the invitation said they could not come as a plain-clothes undercover cop!  It read:   It's Scary...Ron and Jen are turning 30!    Join us for an evening of SPIRITS and BITES and ghoulish delights.    Date and Time    All Guests MUST come in Costume...coming as a plain-clothes cop does NOT count!      Children are invited to attend a non-scary party in the dungeon, chaperone by enslaved ghouls.     Be there...if you dare!    You're haunting presence will be your gift to us. 

I transformed our brand new house into a haunted mansion.  As guests entered the house, a fog machine was creating the mood at the door while scary music loomed from a hidden boombox. As they entered the house, each family was ushered upstairs for a family portrait (that I included in my thank you cards .)  I draped black sheeting over all the walls in the living room (this can be found at any discount store and attached with scotch removable adhesive pads), covered the sofas with black bed sheets as well as the bookcases and switched the 2 light bulbs in the lamps to red bulbs and set up a strobe light to flash on the ceiling where 50 rubber bats hanging down on fishing line. 

The garage was also covered entirely in black plastic sheeting (which I stapled right to the walls) with 6 flaming cauldrons and 2 flying skeleton creatures hanging from the ceiling. I had 12 battery operated bats flying from fishing lines stapled to the ceiling as well. I also rented a dual slushie machine and served the drinks in glowing LED glasses (from JC Penneys).  Bottles of wine had mini witch's hats on them.  I rented 10 cocktail tables and set them up with "cemetary candles" on them while halloween music, including Michael Jackson's Thriller played in the background.   

The other rooms were decorated with "scene setters" (one looked like old, ripped wall paper, another like beat up wainscotting) purchased from any party supply store and my pictures were covered with "scary" pictures - also from the same store.  Many, many spider webs and spiders (attached with double sided tape), a full coffin with skeleton and moss and a scary cat welcomed guests in different areas of the house.  I had 2 more fog machines running inside.  In one long, narrow hallway, I covered the entire walls/ceiling with foil and used a strobe light in this area.  

In the powder room, I took a scary mask and hung it over my husband's long, black trench coat and hung it on the hinges to scare people once inside - I also swapped out the light bulbs in there with red bulbs.  

All of my food was appropriately labeled:  Bat Wings (chicken wings), Ribs (BBQ riblets), Werewolf Balls (marinated meatballs), Rat on a Stick (chicken on a stick), Vomit (marshmallow/fruit dessert), Raw Sewage (for my chocolate fountain), Spinal Cord Slices (spiral sandwiches) and Diarrhea (ground beef/cheese dip).  I sprinkled plastic flies and ants around all the food. I set the food up in different rooms - hot in the garage, cold in the living room, snacks in the dining room and desserts in the kitchen so as to keep people moving from room to room to avoid congestion. 

The big screen tv was playing a DVD of scary heads I purchased from a halloween store.   Downstairs, the kids enjoyed a "scare-free" party decorated in black & orange crepe paper and pumpkins where they colored halloween pages, played halloween bingo and watched halloween movies.  I hired 3 teenage girls to run the party so the adults could enjoy some "kid-free" time without having to hire a sitter.   

It took me 2 weeks to "create" the haunted mansion and even longer to clean it all up but it was the most amazing party anyone had ever been to!  I'm only left to wonder how I'll ever top it!